Big Data Analysis of a Dedicated YouTube Channel as an Open Educational Resource in Hand Surgery

Abstract

Background: Educationally designed videos have the advantage of explaining difficult concepts via graphic diagrams and dynamic illustrations. The benefits of videos will be enhanced if videos are well-designed, concise, explore scientifically correct content, and have a clear presentation.Aims: Video as an open educational resource (OER) is the cornerstone for online learning. YouTube has been widely used as a distribution platform for OER. The aim of this study was to evaluate the engagement of hand surgery videos on a dedicated education channel on YouTube.Methods: The senior author has been utilizing a YouTube channel dedicated to the education of clinicians in Hand Surgery, surgical education, and management since 2008. The degree of engagement was evaluated using YouTube Analytics, providing up-to-date metrics and reports.Results: Since 2008, there have been 6521 subscribers with 1,360,680 views, a total view time of 35,033 h and an average view time of 1.72 min. The channel views averaged 1000 views per day. There were 4,324,724 impressions with a 7.32% click-through rate, with the United States of America accounting for 23.5% of the audience. YouTube search accounted for 33.3% of the traffic source and suggested videos by others were 19.4%, and external links were 19%. Playback location was through mobile devices in 76.7%, while 16% was through the computer. The two popular playlists were “flaps in hand surgery” (50.2%) and “basic hand surgery workshop” (21.9%). Sharing by WhatsApp was most popular (27.9%) in embedded websites and apps. Overall there were 488 comments on the channel.Conclusion: This paper confirms the phenomenon of micro-learning by online learners. It is recommended that educational videos as OER should be confined to 2 min, made compatible for the mobile device, and be optimized for sharing on social media. These can be used as resources for blended learning, allowing better utilization of time for deliberate practice in surgical training.